The past 7 weeks long-term outreach in Haiti flew so fast and now the six (4 Finns, 1 British and 1 Aussie) students just left the school after 6 months of being together. The time we spent in serving in Haiti was a real blessing and opportunity. It was not just an eye-opener for us as a team neither just serving like another humanitarian group but an awareness and a glimpse of what is in God’s heart for the Haitians and for His great love for them.
The half of our team flew on May 4 and the rest flew on the 6th due to financial problems. Our first few days were spent in youth With A Mission St. Marc. We were helping in different things and were given the chance to do spiritual walk and evangelism with other teams from other countries. Our team experienced doing an evangelism in the park of the city centre of St. Marc after cleaning it first because the rubbish were all over the park.
During our second week we were assigned in a tent village which is 20 minutes by car from the YWAM base. The first thing that we notice was the rubbish scattered all over the tent village and so many children just running and playing. Spiritually, there was a heaviness, hopelessness and apathy causing the people not to care anymore. The people who live in the concrete houses and tents were fighting and shouting at each other.
The first thing that we felt guided to do was to pray. Each of us together with another member of the other teams had a time slot to pray. We prayed day and night for 4 days before we saw changes spiritually and physically. Everyday was a miracle for each of us in the sense that we could not do practical things like digging garbage pit, fish pond, mixing cement, carrying or hauling sand, gravel and water without God’s strength because the heat was draining our energy.
God enabled us to come up with a timetable that both physical work and spiritual work were done by the team hand in hand. While the others are working with the people, some are praying and others are visiting the people who live in the tents and concrete houses. They shared to us their life stories before the earthquake and what they are going through. We prayed with them, shared the Scriptures and some of them gave their lives to Jesus. We were able to talk to them because God has given us the right Haitian translator who is a believer.
We also had the opportunity to provide jobs to several women by cooking our meals and washing our clothes while we were living in the tent village. We were supposed to do these chores however, in order to help them learn the value of earning their own livelihood ,we let them do it. We had children ministry and Bible Study almost everyday. These helped and encouraged all of us because of their response. They are so hungry and open. One time, the women were gathered and discussing Water Baptism after it was preached to them. Many of the children from 8 to 12 years old gave their lives to Jesus.
During the 4 weeks that we lived in the tent village, prayer and praise and worship helped us a lot to understand, love, served and worked with the people. God also gave us an opportunity to work with other teams in preparing food for more than 400 families who live in the farthest village of St. Marc. The people in this village do not have food and clean water to drink so children ages 2 and below are dying.
Our last week in Port Au Prince was very hard because our attitude and faith were tested and stretched. When we left YWAM St. Marc that day we felt assured that we are going to stay in a house. Upon arrival, we were all shocked because we are going to stay in a crumbling church that was destroyed during the earthquake. When it rained on our second night, we were a little bit afraid that the old and worn out tin roof will collapse on us.
Thank God, for His grace we had a great time ministering and teaching the children in the morning and in the evening the young people and other members of the church even though we slept on the ground in a tent. Seeing and walking in the city centre of Port Au Prince with new eyes was really heartbreaking. People who are walking and doing their business or work on the streets have the hopeless expression on their faces and in their eyes. The Haitians need God’s intervention would you pray for them not only for their physical needs but most especially for their spiritual needs? If you would like to partner with YWAM Koivumäki in helping them please do not hesitate to email or contact us. We would be glad to talk to you on how you could partner with us.
